Tag Archives: retail

Once Yes She Can became incorporated at the end of November, I focused on getting Girl Again, the resale boutique for American Girl dolls and all their clothes, furniture and accessories, open for the Christmas gift buying season. I had already acquired merchandise – both through purchases and donations and had held a few workshops with volunteers (and future employees). So I thought I was ready. Kind of.

I had hoped that we would open the boutique, located within a new family spa in Hartsdale, NY, on Small Business Saturday but the spa owners were having their own challenges as a start up. They did not have necessary permits and employees hired. While I had enough merchandise to open, I did not want to put the merchandise into the store until I had a formal agreement with the spa business, as well as insurance.

Businesses like Girl Again retail store need insurance to cover the merchandise and the store fixtures in case of loss due to fire or theft. We need insurance to cover accidents that may happen in our tiny space. And we should be covered in case someone has a problem with the merchandise (even though we are not the manufacturer) We also need to cover the board of directors of Yes She Can Inc. We need to cover volunteer workers in case of accident. Eventually when we have employees we will need to cover them with workmen’s compensation.

It’s been a challenge to explain the business concept to insurance carriers. A few of them seem to think this is a sheltered workshop operated by a social service agency.

A sheltered workshop is a type of employment where sub-minimum wage is paid and employees with disabilities are working in a segregated isolated setting. Employees are typically not trained and prepared to work outside of this environment. This is a controversial practice. Some people feel this is still an appropriate practice for people with significant disabilities that they cannot be integrated into the community. Others believe it is archaic and should be eliminated. Think Beyond the Label says sheltered workshops do more harm than good. The Federal government has weighed in on this practice too.

This is the exact opposite of what I want Yes She Can ventures to be. I feel so insulted and misunderstood that what I am creating would be considered a sheltered workshop.

we have held 7 workshops with volunteers with and without ASD preparing merchandise and working on social skills

we have dozens of dolls and outfits prepared for sale – we even have a few people ready to buy

we have a few commitments to mitzvah projects to collect donated American Girl dolls and all their stuff (let me know if you would like to lead a collection drive – we need more merchandise, constantly.)

This is Monica, a young woman with ASD, only recently diagnosed. She struggled with bullying in school dealing with learning challenges and social exchanges. She has lots of potential, she just needs some experience in a comfortable setting and confidence.

Today I hosted my first workshop with young women and their moms. My mission was to introduce them to the business concept of the American Girl resale boutique, see what kinds of work they wanted to do, and keep them enthusiastic about the new business. First we had lunch and then we discussed what the business is all about, what work needs to be done, and who will do it.

I prepared a 3 page check list of tasks and asked both the girls and moms to fill it out. We went line by line discussing what each task meant such as quality assessment, competitive pricing, and messaging. We talked about how each item that comes from a purchase or a donation needs to be looked over to see what condition it is in: brand new, mint, excellent used, good, or fair. We discussed that the condition was one component of pricing. We talked about needing to know what other people who sold this merchandise were pricing their items for so that we would be fair in pricing ours – otherwise, customers might not want to buy from us. And we discussed what messaging is all about – telling customers why they would want to shop at our boutique and what makes it different than other places where they could buy American Girl dolls and accessories.

I have never run a retail operation so I am learning on the job. I have also never actually instructed anyone with ASD other than my daughter, so I am learning what each volunteer (and future employee) can do and how much I need to adjust my language to explain what needs to be done. I kept checking in with the moms to see if their daughters were getting what I was saying.

After our work session came the fun part: playing with the historical dolls that I already collected, doing their hair, making sure they had the right outfits on, and rearranging the Bitty Babies in the crib.

So much to do, so little time left. But I am thrilled that I have so many people committed to making this a success.

Thanks to Molly and her mom Barbara, Becky and her mom Sheryl, Cici and her mom Shera, and Izzie. Thanks to Izzie’s dad, Paul, for helping in the store fixture acquisition at Ikea, and for his help in putting it all together.